• I Hear That Asteroids Machine Calling My Name

    23 Jun | 16
    • in Electronics • 
    • in Asteroids • 
    • by FozzTexx

    I still remember the first time I ever touched an Asteroids machine. It was in a dark arcade in Vallejo, one of those ones that had popped up in an empty storefront in a shopping center. The machine was different than all the others in the arcade, it was a lone cocktail cabinet amid the uprights that were packed anywhere they could fit them. I dropped in a quarter to see if I could make sense of the game, and was amazed at how fun it was controlling the ship. Of course I died quickly because I...

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  • Doing Linux Sysadmin Tasks From Your 8-Bitter

    17 Jun | 16
    • in Raspberry Pi • 
    • in Retro • 
    • by FozzTexx

    You decided to "work" from home and you're having a blast killing aliens, rescuing princesses, and finding buried treasure. And of course right while you're in the middle of solving the world's hardest puzzle an urgent call comes in from the office. Of course that means you’re going have to get up and go sit at another computer to ssh in and see what's going on. Wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to do that? Using a combination of tcpser and...

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  • Linux plus CP/M plus assembly equals LASM

    12 Jun | 16
    • in TRS-80 • 
    • by FozzTexx

    With the TRS-80 Model II working one of the first things I did with it was to send the world’s first tweet from a TRS-80 Model II. To do that I used Kermit for CP/M. World's first tweet from a @RadioShack #TRS80 Model II made in 1979! https://t.co/5trIKlhBqW pic.twitter.com/2vJffAAhGb — Chris Osborn (@FozzTexx) June 2, 2016 The TRS-80 Model II support in Kermit is missing hardware flow control support however which means that it’s very prone to dropping...

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  • This Letter Quality Printer Is Now Fully Armed and Operational

    08 Jun | 16
    • in Retro • 
    • by FozzTexx

    This article is a followup to my previous article about trying to open and repair this typewriter. It's open! Bob Will didn’t have a service manual for my Smith Corona Memory Correct 400 Messenger but he did let me in on the secret to getting a mid ‘80s Smith Corona typewriter open: pry really hard. Yes really! Before you do that you want to remove the two screws near the platen. After taking out the screws the only thing holding the cover on is a couple of large metal posts...

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  • It’s User Serviceable if You Have Gift Wrap and Weather Strip

    05 Jun | 16
    • in Electronics • 
    • in TRS-80 • 
    • by FozzTexx

    My TRS-80 Model II Last weekend one of my usual sources of inspiration, @duhproject, received a Commodore 128. A lot of people on Twitter started talking about  their  128s, so I had to get mine out too. I thought it would be interesting to try out a true 80 column terminal program under CP/M since it was something that the 128 could do that that 64 doesn’t. It didn’t take long before I decided that running CP/M from a 5.25” drive wasn’t “CP/M...

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